Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag - Review

Posted: 10/29/13

Continuing its tour of historical fiction, sci-fi, and conspiracy, Ubisoft makes its latest stop in the eighteenth century Caribbean. Assassin's Creed IV invites players to raise sails across warm seas, but does Black Flag inspire loyalty from its crew or make a case for mutiny?

Captain Edward Kenway certainly navigates the story in a way that’s worthy of command. This Welshman stands as one of the series' most likable leads, and the plot doesn’t feel muddled even as new mysteries start to unravel. Kenway isn't sworn to assist either Assassins or Templars, but as you brush elbows with them, the struggle between factions gains a wider sense of scope, perhaps because you aren't always at the center of it all.

Famous pirates like Charles Vane and Calico Jack play a major supporting role, and although it's fun to watch Blackbeard exercise his flair for dramatics, there's more to them than plundering stereotypes. The supporting cast is laden with personality, fears, disagreements and aspirations, and Kenway's journey with these rogues is emotionally effective in a way the series has never really reached before. And yes, the modern setting returns in a new way, extending the lore without pretending to be something that it's not.

Black Flag's version of the Caribbean is enormous, with dozens of locations and a staggering amount of things to do. With the way it’s all connected you can leave your ship, dive to the shore for treasure, and bask in the sound of cannon fire as ships battle in the distance – knowing that you could join the fray in moments. Similarly you can dock at small fishing villages and explore mid-sized islands all without ever seeing a load screen, but larger spaces such as major cities do load as separate levels, although this does little to diminish the sense of scale. An expanded fast-travel system lets you travel to any unlocked viewpoint, making it relatively easy to move about such a large world.

There are three major cities to explore -- Havana, Nassau, and Kingston -- each with their own distinct flavor. Taking regional forts provides lucrative naval contracts along with a clearer view of your map, and you'll eventually gain a hideout to upgrade. A diving activity creates tense undersea experiences as you try to avoid sharks and search for treasure with limited resources of air. Harpooning massive sharks and whales is a simple but exciting addition to simplified terrestrial hunting, netting you skins to craft new gear, similar to Far Cry 3. There's even a great series of story-based side quests, introducing you to some of the region's key assassins.

With all of this content comes some repetition; tasks like boarding a ship or taking a fort can start to feel routine. Many of the smaller unnamed islands and beaches are virtually identical, but even so, there's still a stronger than expected sense of diversity with jungles, ruins, plantations, and caves. Collectibles are overabundant to the point that you'll likely skip over many chests and animus fragments, but chasing sea shanty lyric sheets, solving Mayan puzzles, following treasure maps, and reading messages in bottles all feel worthwhile.

It should come as no surprise that you'll spend a lot of time on the open waves, and thankfully your ship is a fantastic part of the experience. Your crew sings a wide range of shanties as you go, you'll make minor course adjustments to pick up floating cargo and castaways, and the mood of the sea is constantly in flux, ranging from a calm sunset to the panic of a deadly storm. And while we've only played current gen versions so far, the beauty of it all is still quite striking.

Of course the smell of that salty sea air only benefits from the additional tang of gunpowder, and the already excellent ship battles of Assassin's Creed III have been further streamlined in Black Flag. By simply looking at the correct part of your ship you’re able to launch broadside volleys, chain shot or fire barrels. The only bit that can be a little awkward is firing mortars as you try to aim through the spyglass while in motion. Once you've incapacitated a ship, it pays to approach and board it, earning you valuable resources to sell or use for upgrades. Plus, you'll have a choice whether to use the ship to repair your own or add the conquered vessel to your fleet.

On the open ocean, plundering ships is simply a matter of course, and you can use your spyglass to see what goods they carry as well as how big of a fight they'll put up. You'll want that big booty, but it's easy to get greedy and run up against a naval convoy in a bad spot. If you don't upgrade your hull and armaments, don't expect to last long against one of the game's legendary ships. You no longer have to worry about your wanted level on land, but your exploits at sea will eventually attract wily pirate hunters, and you'll need to bribe officials or force a boarded crew to lower it.

Believe it or not, even stealth mechanics play a part in your naval adventures as you try to avoid patrolling ships in hostile zones or tail a target to its destination. One particular sequence even has you navigating a muddy bayou at night, hopping off deck from time to time to clear out guards on land.

While there's due attention to life on the high-seas, rest assured that there's plenty left to do on land. There's more emphasis placed on stealth, both through player objectives and level design. Bushes are more effective as stalking zones, each guard has a clear visibility meter, and you can tag guards using eagle vision – although the visual effect does look quite disorienting.

What unfortunately hasn't changed much is direct combat, which still focuses on counters and feels rather mushy and difficult to direct in large groups. The camera doesn't respond to give you the best view of the battle, leaving you to juggle it and fall to cheap shots from off-screen, which can be especially problematic when things get crowded on deck. On the plus side, there aren't so many extraneous weapons, and an improved interface makes it easy to switch tools.

Where previous games had you manage a guild of assassins, Black Flag puts you in charge of a fleet of vessels you’ve captured, sending them on trade missions to far off cities and engaging in turn-based battles to keep those routes secure. Trading goods for cash just seems to make more sense than sending a couple of assassin initiates to conquer the state of Virginia.

Players can also download Black Flag's companion app, which synchs up directly to the game through Uplay. Using the second screen while playing is only mildly beneficial for comparing treasure maps and setting waypoints, but when you're on the go, it's a great way to manage your fleet and keep the cash flowing.

Rounding out these extra features is the return of multiplayer, testing your ability to find and kill other players and hide from your own pursuers. It's fleshed out with a progression system and a fair number of modes, but in practice, hunting your prey doesn't feel all that satisfying, and alternating roles feels rather awkward when your ability to kill is taken away from you. Like a sixth finger, it doesn't feel all that useful, and you likely wouldn't miss it if it were gone.

While some core mechanics could still be improved, Black Flag's story, world, and systems come together to form a markedly better and more cohesive game than Assassin's Creed III. It's not only the best Assassin's Creed game to date, but also one of the best games for pirate fans to embark on as well.

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